Montreal continues to be the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, being home to almost 14,000 of the province’s confirmed cases, and on Saturday, the city extended its state of emergency.
Montreal-North is the hardest hit place on the island and they’re stepping up efforts to get their residents more equipped.
The non-profit organization Hoodstock aims to limit the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic handing out sanitizers, masks and other essential items.
“Montreal-North is a city where the situation really escalated,” Hoodstock volunteer Laika Louis said. “It’s really important that we actually make a difference, we tell them how to use the mask, and to see how the situation is and how the population is feeling.”
After handing them out, the next step is to educate them on how to use these items.
“We are going to be telling them how to use the material that we are giving, because a lot of time, people have masks, people have gloves, but they don’t know how to use it,” said Laika.
READ MORE: COVID-19: Montreal extends state of emergency as Quebec cases surpass 29,600
The City of Montreal donated $10,000 to the borough and Hoodstock to help fight the virus.
“We are proud to support the impressive solidarity and citizen mobilization movement of Montreal North in these times of crisis,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante in a press release.
“The population of this borough lives, on a daily basis, significant challenges due to the density of the population, poverty and health issues that affect many homes. These factors are now contributing to an increase in COVID-19 cases, which we must curb. The Hoodstock initiative will help raise awareness, inform and reassure the people of Montreal North about the measures to be taken to prevent the spread of the virus.”
Hoodstock will continue to spread the word and provide residence with the resources they need. Something the mayor of Montreal-North is very pleased about.
“It’s good news for us today to have this task to help the people of Montreal-Nord fight the coronavirus,” Montreal North Mayor Christine Black said.
While Montreal-North continues to battle COVID-19 and inform their residents about all the safety measures, in the plateau they’re easing restrictions and opening streets and parks for residents to enjoy the nice weather while practising social distancing.
“We know our parks really used and appreciated, but if we want to help people keep their two-metre distancing we have to give them more space,” Plateau Mayor Luc Rabouin told Global News. “So we decided to create some streets just besides our parks, to enlarge our parks, and (have) more space, more people.”
The borough hopes to improve this and share it with our stops across the island.
“We will test, we will improve it, and we will disseminate it in the plateau and probably other boroughs will do the same in the next weeks,” said Rabouin.
“Montrealers just need to be happy, take a walk, breathe air, take the sun, so it will help for our mental health — we all need that.”
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